Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Vatican City - , As a bishop and then cardinal Jorge Mario
Bergoglio was a relentless confessor and the homilies and speeches he
has give over these first few months testify to this. For Francis,
engaging in dialogue with faithful during confession is key. But now he
is Pope he is no longer able to “leave” the Vatican and listen to
confessions in parishes as he used to do back in Buenos Aires.

Francis hinted at this in the off-the-cuff speech
he gave during the Pentecost Vigil mass in St. Peter’s Square, on
Saturday 18 May. The Pope addressed a crowd of over 200.000 people, from
over 150 ecclesial movements, associations and new communities. “We
need to become courageous Christians – he said – and go out and search
for those who are the body of Christ, those who are the body of Christ!”
“When I go to listen to confession – I can’t yet because to go out and
listen to confession, well … I can’t leave this place, but that’s
another issue – when I used to go and confess people in my previous
diocese…,” the Pope said.

When he said the words “I can’t leave this place”,
the Pope seemed to turn round to his collaborators. He went on to say
that he always asked penitents: “Do you give money to beggars?” “Yes Father!” “Good, good.” The
he would ask them a couple more questions: “Tell me, when you give
money, do you look the person you are giving it to in the eye?” “Oh, I
don’t know, I never stopped to think about it.” “And when you give money
to a beggar do you touch their hand or do you just toss the money at
them?” This is the problem, the Pope said. “Christ’s body, touching
Christ’s body, taking the poor person’s burden on to our own shoulders.”

Francis spoke about another experience he had as
confessor in the homily he gave during the mass he celebrated in the
Vatican parish of Sant’Anna on the first Sunday after his election to
the papacy (17 March). He described the conversation he had with a man
he was confessing. When the man heard Bergoglio talk about the mercy of
God, he said to him: “Oh father, if you knew what my life was like you
wouldn’t speak to me like that! I have really messed things up in the
past!” And Bergoglio replied: “All the better! Go to Jesus: he’ll be
happy to hear about these things! he forgives and forgets; he has a
special gift for doing so. He forgets he gives you a kiss and a hug and
simply tells you: “I do not condemn you, go and from now steer clear of
sin.” That’s the only piece of advice he will give you. A month later we
find ourselves in the same situation…We turn to the Lord again. The
Lord never tires of forgiving, never! We are the ones who tire of asking forgiveness.”

It was not long after pronouncing these words that
Francis appeared at the window of the papal study in the apostolic
palace to pray the Angelus for the first time. There, he spoke of mercy
once again, speaking about another experience he had as a confessor. “I
remember when I had only just become a bishop in the year 1992, the
statue of Our Lady of Fatima had just arrived in Buenos Aires and a
big Mass was celebrated for the sick. I went to hear confessions at that
Mass. And almost at the end of the Mass I stood up, because I had to go
and administer a First Confirmation. And an elderly woman approached
me, humble, very humble, and over eighty years old. I looked at her, and
I said, “Grandmother” — because in our country that is how we address
the elderly — do you want to make your confession?”. “Yes”, she said to
me. “But if you have not sinned…”. And she said to me: “We all have
sins...”. “But perhaps the Lord does not forgive them”. “The Lord
forgives all things”, she said to me with conviction. “But how do you
know, Madam?”. “If the Lord did not forgive everything, the world would
not exist”. I felt an urge to ask her: “Tell me, Madam, did you study at
the Gregorian [University]?”, because that is the wisdom which the Holy
Spirit gives: inner wisdom focused on God's mercy. Let us not forget
this word: God never ever tires of forgiving us!”

Pope Francis

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